Snowmelt causes further damage at nation's first African-American golf clubhouse in Scotch Plains

"If the first floor is this bad, I can only image what the second floor looks like."

SCOTCH PLAINS — Water from melting snow has apparently further damaged the clubhouse at the historic Scotch Hills Golf Course.

The golf course, once known as Shady Rest, was the first African-American golf and country club in the United States. In 1964, Scotch Pains Township took over operations of Shady Rest and renamed it Scotch Hills Country Club.

The Township Council set aside more than $135,000 last September to help finance repairs to the clubhouse, and at the time, fixing the the roof seemed to be the consensus top priority.

However, repairs to the roof have not yet been done and there is no tarp on the roof that might have diminished the adverse affects of snow from that accumulated on the rooftop and subsequently melted, seeping into the building.

Sylvia Hicks, the co-chair of a nonprofit organization called The Friends to Preserve the Shady Rest, was at the clubhouse on Feb. 21.

"I was able to peek in and look at the damage that was done," she said.

Hicks described damage to ceiling tiles, sheet rock and wooden floor boards, as well as puddles of standing water on the first floor.

"If the first floor is this bad, I can only image what the second floor looks like," she said. "The kitchen looked like it had the most damage."

Part of the $138,000 in authorized funding is earmarked to pay for a study to prioritize repairs needed to the clubhouse.

A preliminary study has been completed, according to Hicks, but a more detailed engineering study of recommendations on how to more forward with repairs has not.

A documentary film about the historic significance of Shady Rest was screened at Scotch Hills Country Club in late August. The film, "A Place for Us," features legendary golfer John Matthew Shippen (1879-1968) — the first American-born and first African-American professional golfer. Shippen served as Shady Rest’s longtime golf professional and greens supervisor.